China stocks fall as financial and consumer shares drag

SHANGHAI: China stocks dipped on Friday, as weakness in banking and consumer stocks offset gains in the energy sector, but the indexes were up for the week.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 2.70 points or 0.08 percent at 3,297.36.
The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.32 percent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.72 percent, the consumer staples sector down 0.74 percent, the real estate index down 0.04 percent and healthcare sub-index up 0.13 percent.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.18 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.58 percent. Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.47 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.16 percent.
At 07:05 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.5765 per U.S. dollar, 0.14 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.5855.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were China Petroleum Engineering Corp up 10.02 percent, followed by Changchun Sinoenergy Corp gaining 10 percent and Changchun Gas Co Ltd up by 9.99 percent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Anhui Leimingkehua Co Ltd down 9.03 percent, followed by Wuhan DDMC Culture Co Ltd losing 7.01 percent and Shanghai Belling Corp Ltd down by 5.28 percent.
About 12.40 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 77.2 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 16.07 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 14.21 billion.
As of 07:06 GMT, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.95 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.84 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2 percent.